The Guyana Information Agency (GINA) said the Head of State, who is attending the 24th Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government, feels the region must project an image of peace and stability if it is to promote its tourism potential.

President Jagdeo hopes the leaders would examine a Charter that would be indigenous to the peoples of the Caribbean and further concretise democracy in the region, GINA said.

Democracy is one of several issues he proposed for attention at the last CARICOM summit held in Georgetown.

Others, on the agenda for detailed discussions at the conference, include a Common Fisheries Regime, a Common Agricultural Policy, the review of all bodies of the Community to examine their efficiency and relevance to present and emerging demands, joint representation and civil society involvement.

The leaders are expected to examine a report on the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), in particular its legal framework and the issue of the free movement of people.

They will receive progress reports on steps towards reviving the regional economy, including aid to Dominica, the setting up of the Regional Stabilisation Fund, the Regional Economic Transformation Programme and the Trinidad and Tobago/CARICOM Support Programme.

GINA said President Jagdeo noted that the CSME will require close coordination of the policies of the region. These include those covering investment, procurement, finance, the removal of restrictions, the rights of establishment and flow of capital.

“All of these are essential to the functioning of the CSME,” he said.

The Caribbean Court of Justice, which is also being pursued, is necessary for the integration movement, the President said, noting that the region is on the right track.

“What we need now is greater courage at the political and country level to take the steps necessary that would give impetus to the new objectives of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas,” he said,

President Jagdeo, whose conference delegation includes Foreign Minister, Rudy Insanally and Foreign Trade and International Cooperation Minister, Clement Rohee, said the region now has to develop some level of political and community order to manage its affairs.

Oher important issues
Other important issues on the agenda include air transport, petrol supplies, governance, crime and security. The leaders are to receive a report from a specially set up task force on crime.

The development of a communication and information strategy will also be discussed.

And, in light of relations with international organisations, which remain a priority, the leaders will exchange views with the Secretary General of the Commonwealth and Organisation of American States (OAS), respectively.

Those scheduled to address the conference opening are incoming CARICOM Chairman, Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Percival Patterson; outgoing chairman, Dominica’s Prime Minister, Pierre Charles; Barbados Prime Minister, Owen Arthur; Belize Prime Minister, Said Musa and CARICOM Secretary General, Edwin Carrington.

South Africa’s President, Thabo Mbeki, who now holds chairmanship of the African Union, is also expected to deliver an address.

Meanwhile, the Community’s Trade Ministers will meet with United States Trade Representative, Mr. Robert Zoellick and Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi.

Successes and setbacks
CARICOM will be observing 30th anniversary celebrations, which coincide with the conference, and President Jagdeo said there have been “successes and setbacks” during the period.

One good thing is that CARICOM acts as a bloc on international affairs.

“We have managed to wield influence in international economic and world policy that is far beyond the size of individual states,” he observed.

Through collective trade negotiations, CARICOM has managed either to stave off or delay threats to the region’s trade regime.

But there have been disappointments. President Jagdeo noted that although there is the Common External Tariff, “intra-CARICOM trade is only a small part of the region’s external trade.”

He recalled that CARICOM was set up mainly for the creation of a free trade area and it only recently moved to the establishment of the CSME.

“Originally, we were set up as a free trade area with barrier protection from products coming in from abroad. So in that sense, we have not achieved what was originally intended, he explained.

The President noted concern over the pace of implementation of many measures to which CARICOM leaders have agreed, urging, “we have got to move swiftly to implement these…”

He also said people should be brought more into the integration movement if the region is to move forward, recalling an appeal he made last year for a translation of CARICOM’s policy documents into user-friendly terms, so that ordinary citizens can understand and appreciate what the CSME is all about.

“It is no use talking about the CSME and principles of derogation or post-Cotonou Agreement. That does not mean anything to many people,” he pointed out.

“They (policies) affect the lives of the peoples, and if the politicians and the technical people cannot find a way of connecting to the ordinary citizens, there will be resistance to these policies”, he cautioned.